Difference between Growth and Fixed mindset

The differences between the mindsets can be seen in how people respond to correction and praises. Those who expect only praise mostly do not want to learn new things, they want to only show the things that they do perfectly. Those who want to hear every feedback, positive or negative, are those who get their thrill from what’s hard.

People with the fixed mindset expect an ability to appear by its own, before any effort. They believe that you are gifted or not, and you can’t do anything to change that.

This mindset changes the meaning of effort. The growth mindset people appreciate talent and predispositions but admire more the effort, which for a fixed mindset is only for those with deficiencies.

When we ask people of the fixed mindset when they feel smart, usually they respond that it’s when they are better than others. For them, it is not about attitude but rather, it's about proving and validating themselves. Special or talented means for them better than others. Also, very often fixed mindset people value themselves at the expense of others, they blame others for their failures and they use excuses to justify those failures.

Unfortunately, very often fixed, mindset people, when they fail, transform their response from “I failed” to “I am a failure”. For the growth mindset people, a failure also is not a pleasurable experience, but it doesn’t define them and they treat it as a lesson.